The latest cyber claims report from Coalition, a digital risk insurance provider, finds a 12% increase in cyber insurance claims in the first half of 2023 over the second half of 2022, due to surging attack frequency and severity.
No industry or company size is immune as the increase was seen across all organizations, however companies with $100 million in revenue saw the largest increase in number of claims (+20%), as well as staggering losses resulting from attacks (+72%).
“The cyber threat landscape has become more volatile, and, as a result, we’ve seen claims become more severe and more common than ever,” said Chris Hendricks, Head of Coalition Incident Response. “To help prevent these costly and disruptive incidents, organizations need to take an active role in improving their security defenses and make risk management a top priority.”
Ransomware claims also grew in frequency during the same time period, seeing claims increase by 27% with claim severity increasing by 61% across the board. This is partially due to increased ransoms demanded by cybercriminals. The current average was found to be $1.62 million, a massive 74% increase over the past year.
Other key data points Coalition found in their report include:
- Funds transfer fraud (FTF) claims frequency increased by 15%, and FTF severity increased by 39% with average total losses topping $297,000.
- Coalition negotiated ransomware payments down to an average of 44% of the initial amount demanded.
- Organizations using Google Workspace for email were notably more secure than those using Microsoft Office 365 (M365) and on-premises Microsoft Exchange. M365 users were more than twice as likely to experience a claim compared to Google Workspace users. On-premises Microsoft Exchange users were nearly three times more likely to experience a claim than businesses using Google Workspace.
- Organizations using Google Workspace experienced a 25% risk reduction for FTF or business email compromise (BEC) claims, and a 10% risk reduction for ransomware claims.
The full report from Coalition details the highest-profile claim events and cyber attacks, what contributed to the increases in claims, and more. Cyber insurance premiums and the ability to obtain a policy has become increasingly difficult. This is why you need to implement continual security awareness training to educate users and prove to the insurers you have solid cybersecurity practices internally.
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